Re: Sansa Clip Firmware 01.01.35 & 02.01.35 Release

Just did a music test and I personally can't hear much difference betwen two music files I tried. One was a 320kb VBR/44.1kHz file, the other a 192kb VBR / 48kHz file of the same song (She's a Rainbow by the Rolling Stones). For some reason that song was so easy to hear it being slow on my Clip with the previous firmware when sampled at 44.1kHz; Jagger's vocals sounded sluggish, the piano slow, and Charlie Watts' drums were draggy sounding. With the latest firmware it's gone. The 48kHz and 44.1kHz files sound pretty much the same.

I found that approxmiately 5 cents is the threshold of when humans can (usually) detect a pitch error. Musicians are likely more sensitive to pitch, so 5 cents may not still be good enough for them. This web page explains it better than I can:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/Music/cents.html

My Clip is right at ~5 cents fast, previously it was 21 cents slow. That's a huge improvement and now is at or below the threshold of my hearing. Not iPod accurate and not as accurate as my comparable Creative Zen Nano 1GB but lots lots better. I'll take it and run.

One annoying quirk I did find with the new firmware was sporadic switching from MSC mode to "Auto" after ejecting the Clip from the PC's USB port. I never had it happen before but it's done it to me twice now but I can't reproduce this consistently. I noticed the couple of times it happened after I just unplugged it from the USB slot, didn't eject it from the systray (I'm using Windows XP). Not a big deal, just don't flip out if after updating your Clip it sporadically switches to Auto mode instead of MSC mode.

Re: Sansa Clip Firmware 01.01.35 & 02.01.35 Release

So nice to see bugs having been looked into, and SanDisk not having
abandoned the original Clip! Although I can't but be disappointed that
folder view from the Clip+ didn't back its way into the original Clip
(my Clip having been working fine before, and so the bug fixes with the
current firmware upgrade not really adding to my enjoyment of my Clip)
...

And so nice to read that people are finding that
although not commented upon by SanDisk (perhaps because there had been so much commentary before ...), there in fact has been a pitch
fix! Thanks, SanDisk (and feel free to add folder view, now ...).

Re: Sansa Clip Firmware 01.01.35 & 02.01.35 Release

So nice to see bugs having been looked into, and SanDisk not having abandoned the original Clip! Although I can't but be disappointed that folder view from the Clip+ didn't back its way into the original Clip (my Clip having been working fine before, and so the bug fixes with the current firmware upgrade not really adding to my enjoyment of my Clip) ...

And so nice to read that people are finding that although not commented upon by SanDisk (perhaps because there had been so much commentary before ...), there in fact has been a pitch fix! Thanks, SanDisk (and feel free to add folder view, now ...).

I don't understand why Sandisk didn't list these big improvements. The pitch improvement (it's not a fix really) alone is worth the upgrade. I don't think they can really get the pitch dead on with the chip set they use, the battery size used and keep the play time per charge in the 10+ hr. range. Part of the blame is USB works off a multiple of 48kHz but the CD format uses a 44.1kHz sampling rate. You've got to have a really fast clock to reduce the pitch error but that costs power.

Re: Sansa Clip Firmware 01.01.35 & 02.01.35 Release

This oddity is probably only in my head, but did anyone find that at least audiobooks are now a bit unbalanced in right vs left volume? It seemed quite pronounced at first, but now my brain may have adjusted to it and I hardly notice. This was with a continuation of a track I was listening to before the upgrade, and most of it was a single voice that shouldn't have any stereo difference. I don't think there is a setting for balance anywhere.

Upgrade was a nice gesture, but I guess a funeral for our hopes of the really important issue of folder browsing.

Re: Sansa Clip Firmware 01.01.35 & 02.01.35 Release

This oddity is probably only in my head, but did anyone find that at least audiobooks are now a bit unbalanced in right vs left volume? It seemed quite pronounced at first, but now my brain may have adjusted to it and I hardly notice. This was with a continuation of a track I was listening to before the upgrade, and most of it was a single voice that shouldn't have any stereo difference. I don't think there is a setting for balance anywhere.

Upgrade was a nice gesture, but I guess a funeral for our hopes of the really important issue of folder browsing.

Every player I own has it, yet I very rarely need to use it. To each his own though.

Re: Sansa Clip Firmware 01.01.35 & 02.01.35 Release

This oddity is probably only in my head, but did anyone find that at least audiobooks are now a bit unbalanced in right vs left volume? It seemed quite pronounced at first, but now my brain may have adjusted to it and I hardly notice. This was with a continuation of a track I was listening to before the upgrade, and most of it was a single voice that shouldn't have any stereo difference. I don't think there is a setting for balance anywhere.

Upgrade was a nice gesture, but I guess a funeral for our hopes of the really important issue of folder browsing.

I don't use audio books so I can't comment on your observation, but to make sure it's not an analog issue (internal amplifier or headphone/connector), did you try playing an audio file that is mono or switching your FM radio to "Mono" mode and listening for proper channel balance? If it's unbalanced, then likely it's a headphone issue (connector or your headphones), an amp output inside your Clip or the headphone connector in your Clip is problematic. A dirty headphone jack/connector can also cause problems.

In my case, all of my music sounds balanced between channels. I'm listening right now to mono encoded mp3s of the recent Beatles Mono box set and there's no channel imbalance.

Re: Sansa Clip Firmware 01.01.35 & 02.01.35 Release

Wolf-6 wrote:Does anyone else think that the music sounds more alive, like they removed digital dust if that makes any sense.

Okay, I wasn't going to mention this but when the equalizer was set to "flat" it did sound better with my old headphones. I thought it was just my giddiness of having the pitch close to perfect. I wouldn't claim the sound was better but just having the pitch improved will make the music sound nicer as it's closer to what you heard on a system were it had correct pitch. Maybe that's what we're hearing?